Something Gold Can Stay
by Princess Pinky
Summary: This is a sequel to, "Stay Gold". Ricky arrives at Adrian's house to find her distrought, and as he attempts to help her, it forces Adrian to come to a few revelations, some more painful than others.


**A/N:** I wasn't initially planning on this, but I was asked to continue my first Radrian (Ricky/Adrian) story, _Stay Gold_. Since free time is not something I have a lot of lately, I didn't want to make it longer. (Plus, I rather liked the way it ended, so I didn't want to ruin the vibe.) But, I was intensely inspired this morning, so I was able to write up a sequel. (Funny how this one only took me a day when the first one took me a couple of weeks.) And once again, you need to have at least read my first story –_Stay Gold_ – and Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay." (Knowledge of S.E. Hinton's _The Outsiders _would be good too, but at least read the poem because the book's central theme was based off of it.) I hope you enjoy!

_**Something Gold Can Stay**_

Ricky darted down the familiar hallway in such a rush that he was nearly skipping. His long fingers were wrapped around the neck of a long bottle that curved into a thick base and was wrapped in shimmery silver paper, concealing the contents inside.

He stopped abruptly at the apartment door marked with a "3" and wrapped his knuckles against it. He heard nothing at first and knocked again, this time with more force. His lips turned from a pleasant curve into a puzzled line. As he reared his hand back to knock again, he heard a faint sound from the other side of the door. "Adrian?"

"It's unlocked!"

Ricky's brow creased. He hesitantly reached for the door handle and pushed the door open. With his first sweep of the room, he didn't see her. "Adrian?" he called for the second time.

"Over here." Her voice was a whisper, a ghost's echo.

"Adrian." He spotted her on the floor, her head poking out from behind of the couch. He threw the bottle onto the couch and crouched onto the floor beside her. When he touched her arm, he felt her shaking as if she had a fever. He instinctively touched her forehead, but found that it wasn't unusually warm.

"I'm not sick," she said hoarsely.

"What's going on?" He noticed the cordless phone lying beside her.

"I don't want to talk about."

Ricky studied her and noted that the cream of her eyes were emblazoned with sharp forks of red and her usually thick lashes were matted with wetness. As he studied her olive face, he also noticed faint streaks of black, where bits of mascara had escaped being wiped away. He lifted his thumb to her cheek and rubbed away the evidence. "What happened?" he persisted.

"Are you deaf?" she sneered. "I said-"

"Is it your parents?" he cut in, ignoring her poisonous voice.

"No."

"I don't understand," Ricky said, his voice almost pleading. "What's going on? First you call me to announce that your parents are engaged and you sound so excited that I thought beams of light might actually come through the phone…and then I get over here and you're…" He touched her arm and she flinched away. _"…devastated."_

"You wouldn't understand." She grit her teeth together and turned away, shoving her forehead into the side of the couch.

Ricky curled his fists in frustration. "Oh yeah?" He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, winding his arms around her and holding her to his chest. _"Try me."_

Adrian shivered again, but found warmth with her cheek against Ricky's chest. She grabbed at his shirt, pulling a clump of it into her fist. After several minutes of silence – and reassurance that he wouldn't let her go – she finally let out an aching sob. _"Nothing gold can stay…"_

Ricky's eyes darted down, looking at the top of her head. "What?" He seemed taken aback.

"Robert Frost," she whispered; her voice was almost undetectable as she spoke into his chest.

"I know that," he replied softly. "But what does that have to-"

"It's Max." Adrian lifted her face from his chest, just enough to make her voice clear.

"Max?" Confusion knitted together between Ricky's eyes. "I thought things were going great between you two."

"They _were,_" Adrian emphasized. "Until about ten minutes before you got here." She expected Ricky to ask about what happened again and she paused, waiting, but instead she felt his hand massaging the top of her head, curling through her hair. The sensation gave her goose bumps at the back of her neck that traveled down along her spine. She bit her bottom lip. "He came over here," she whispered, "said he wanted to celebrate my parents' engagement with me…and-and…he told me he loved me." She choked out another sob and yanked a little harder on the shirt she'd balled up in her hand.

"He told you he loved you?" Ricky stopped rubbing the top of Adrian's head. "So why are you _upset?_"

Adrian tilted her head back to gaze up at Ricky. "Because," she murmured, "I couldn't say it back."

"What?" Ricky's expression was unblinking. "Why not?"

"I don't know." Her eyes traveled to the cordless phone. "After he left, I tried to call him, but my fingers wouldn't push the right buttons. I just…I kept crying and…" She began to shake her head. "I don't know what's wrong with me. Why couldn't I say it? He's been nothing short of amazing to me. The first gentleman I've ever known. I don't understand why I had to ruin it!"

"Shh…" he used the same tone he used when he was attempting to comfort his son. Ricky sighed and began to rub circles onto Adrian's back. "It'll be okay."

"_Okay?"_ she snarled. "How can it be _okay_? I ruined everything! That's what I do, I'm so destructive!"

"Maybe…_maybe,_" he said the second time, slowly, "you couldn't say it because you really _don't_ love him."

Adrian jerked away from him, her eyes flashing hazardously. "How can you say that? No," she wrapped her arms around herself, "how _dare_ you say that! You don't know a thing about Max and I!"

"No," Ricky conceded, "but I do know a thing or two about false love."

"Oh what?" she sneered. "Because of all your experience with girls?"

"No…because of my experience with Amy."

The rigid corners of Adrian's mouth softened. "What do you mean?"

"Once upon a time, I told Amy that I loved her…and she didn't say it back either."

"You told Amy that you loved her?"

"Well we were together for a while, you knew that."

"I know, I just…I didn't know you told her that." Adrian swallowed uncomfortably. "Did you mean it?"

"I did." He looked to the floor. "But it's a little more complicated than that."

"How so?"

Ricky sighed and met her eyes again. "I'm not sure how to explain it to you."

"_Please?"_ Her large, marble-like eyes were begging. "Maybe it could help me understand what happened with Max."

Ricky laced his hands together. "Okay…" he exhaled quietly, thinking. "Do you remember the day you told me that just because I was having a baby with Amy didn't mean I belonged with her? And I said…no, _asked,_ 'Then what does it mean?'"

Adrian nodded, her eyes reflective. "Yes."

"You were right."

"I was?"

"I'm not saying that I don't love Amy, because I do. She's still the mother of my son and I'll always love her in a way that I can't love anybody else," he looked at his hands, "but I'm not _in love_ with her like I thought I was. You see, Amy showed me a whole new world. Everything that happened with her, it was so new to me, and the feelings I had were like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I mistook it for being in love. And I projected the love I had for my son onto her."

"I never knew…"

Ricky chuckled humorlessly. "Neither did I." He shrugged. "Not until the night I told her I loved her and she…she just stared at me, with that little open mouthed look. The silence in the room was deafening. I felt like a fool." He angled his head back. "She told me she needed time and a week later, she asked me to come over and we talked about it-"

"And she told you she was in love with Ben?"

"Yes and no. She told me her 'whole heart wasn't in it,' at least not the way it should be. She told me she'd always care for me, especially as the father of her son, but she didn't want to mislead me…and hurt me." He chuckled dryly again. "It took me a while, but I realized she was right. My whole heart had never been in it either, you know? I mean, if it had…" He looked up cautiously, "I don't think I would've been asking you to come over after I claimed I was committed to her."

"Old habits die hard," she whispered, avoiding his gaze. "Besides," she added with a light touch to her tone, "I'm kind of addicting, right?" She lifted her eyes to see him smiling, prompting her to continue. "You can't really blame yourself that I'm that good, can you?"

"You're so much more than just _that,_ Adrian."

"That's what Max tried to convince me of too."

"He was right."

"And yet somehow I still managed to hurt him."

"You can't help if your heart wasn't in it," he sighed. "Just like Amy." He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Just like me. We can't help who we aren't in love with." He pulled her into a standing position. "But what we can do is not lead them on. I'm thankful for Amy did, otherwise we might be somewhere we both regret right now." He looked her square in the face. "And I don't regret being here." He smiled and it lit up _her_ face. "After all, if it hadn't been for Amy wanting to go on that date with Ben, I may never have decided to come over here that night and we wouldn't be friends right now."

"I guess when you put it like that…" Adrian swiped her fingers across her eyes. "I guess I'm glad too. I missed you." Her lips quivered. "A lot, to be honest. Even if you did act like a jerk in most of my memories."

Ricky frowned. "I'm sorry for that. I hope there are at least a few I left with you that you don't hate."

"I never said I hated them." Adrian ran her hand through her dark tresses. "And yes, there are." She bit her lip to hold back a grin. "Like the time you made me lunch." She giggled and it sounded akin to a wind chime. "A slice of ham between two slices of bread…and chips." Her lips broke into a breezy grin. "It was probably the sweetest thing you ever did for me."

"You know," he said, suddenly wandering towards the kitchen, "you were the first girl I ever made lunch for."

"I was?"

"Yeah." He opened her refrigerator. "What do you have in the way of lunchmeats?"

"Uh…we don't have much. We probably have some packaged stuff in the side compartment, but we're out of bread." She shrugged as she watched him pull out a half empty package of pre-sliced lunchmeat and a jar of mayonnaise. "Except for some old sourdough my mom brought home two weeks ago, it's probably out of date by now," she added as an afterthought.

"Where is it?" he asked, moving towards the cupboards.

"In that one, to your left."

Ricky yanked open the cupboard and snagged a brown paper bag from the top shelf. He checked the date and grinned, raising his eyebrows. "Looks like we're just in time," he held up the bag revealing the date, "today's the last day for the freshness date."

Adrian sauntered over to the table and leaned against it, contentedly watching her ex as he pulled out a knife and began to carve up the sourdough bread. "Has anyone ever told you how domestic you look?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "Margaret, my mom."

"I meant anyone besides your mom," she laughed. "Moms are supposed to do that."

"You're the first."

Adrian chewed her lip as he delicately layered the sourdough halves with some mayonnaise. "Usually I just eat that right out of the package," she informed as he layered the packaged ham onto the bread. "I don't do a lot in the kitchen."

Ricky adjusted the second slice of bread onto the first and turned to the cupboard again, retrieving a plate. "I kind of figured," he laughed. "Lucky for you, I have a knack for putting together a meal out of anything lying around." He set the sandwich onto the plate and stepped back to the cupboard he'd retrieved the bread from. He scoured it and pulled out a half full bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. He smirked.

"What?"

"These are my favorite," he explained as he started to pour them onto the plate, surrounding the sandwich like a mote. "They're salty with just the right amount of-"

"Zest!" Adrian laughed as she spoke in time with Ricky. "Yeah, I know, that's why they're the only ones I eat. Even if they do make your lips and tongue raw and string."

"It's a good kind of sting…it's addicting."

"Exactly."

Ricky walked the plate over to her. "What do you think?"

"It looks simple."

"I could fancy it up-"

"No," she snatched the plate from his hands. "Simple is good sometimes. I don't mind simple." She picked up one half of the sandwich and took a bite. Her lips curved as she chewed and swallowed. "But the taste if amazing! I didn't know old sourdough could taste so good with just ham and mayo."

Ricky shrugged. "You're welcome."

"Thank you," she blushed.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Ricky moved over to the couch and picked up the long necked bottle he'd brought in.

Adrian's eyebrows shot up. "You brought over wine?"

"Not exactly."

"_Champagne?"_

"No." He tore off the shiny paper and held up the green bottle, revealing sparkling apple cider. He saw the corners of her mouth twitch. "You're disappointed?"

"No!" she laughed suddenly. "I think that's great! I love bubbly apple cider!"

Ricky moved to the back of the kitchen and ducked down to a bottom cupboard, knowing exactly what he was looking for. When he stood up again, he was holding two champagne glasses. "I brought it to celebrate. I know how much you've wanted your parents back together." He found a bottle opener in the drawer and proceeded to uncork the apple cider.

Adrian wandered over to the couch and sat down. She popped a couple chips into her mouth. "Thank you," she said again.

"For what this time?"

"For everything." She stared down at her sandwich. "I feel much better. I'm glad you came over today."

Ricky sat down beside her and handed her one of the glasses of apple cider, which was fizzing like liquid gold. "I'm just glad to see your smile's returned."

"Because of you." Adrian held up her glass. "How about a toast?

"To your parents?" He asked.

"Okay…" She clinked her glass to his, but before he could lift it to his mouth, she grabbed his arm, almost causing him to spill the contents of the glass. "And something else…"

"What?"

"To us."

"To us?"

"Yeah." She held up her glass expectantly.

"Okay…" He clicked his glass to hers curiously. "To us." He laughed. "Now can I take a drink?"

"Yes." She pressed her glass to her lips in time with him and they drank together. She smiled when the glasses were empty and they pitched forward simultaneously to place them on the coffee table. Then she held up her half of her sandwich. "Here, take a bite."

Ricky held up his hand. "I made it for you."

"And I want to share."

Ricky rolled his eyes. "Fine…but only because I find this such a rare occasion."

She punched his arm before handing him the sandwich half. Adrian released a little sigh as she watched him chew. "I think Frost is wrong."

"What?" Ricky looked amused.

"I think I know why I couldn't tell Max I loved him."

Ricky narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Because…" Adrian slid her hand over to Ricky's lap and laced her fingers between his. "I think that sometimes, something gold _can_ stay."


End file.
